Day -1 Friday Manchester, England
This cruise was going to the middle east but the process is the same for all fly/cruises run by TUI, Marella Cruises, as far as I can see.
It was gone 12:00 noon before we left the hotel in their
free bus and off to Terminal 3 where the baggage collection by TUI commenced
over three hours prior to departure. For forty minutes we zigzagged our way through
human cattle pens until the bags were weighed and rode off into the bowels of
the building on a conveyor belt. The baggage restrictions are 20 kilograms per bag and there is a chance to relocate items if you are overweight at the baggage desk. If desperate swop your heavier shoes/ runners for what you are wearing or put them in the hand luggage as you can carry onboard the flight a 10-kilogram bag and a handbag
It was only then that we learnt our cabin
number. It was 6073.
This occurred as we booked through a third party, Iglu in this case and we took the cheaper price leaving it up to TUI/ Marella to chose the room.
Obviously, if I'd paid a bit more I could have secured a cabin for definite but would have missed out on possible upgrades to better cabins. You take your choice really.
Also, it's worth noting that you can, at least in Gatwick, offload the large bags at the airport the night before your TUI flight if you so wish. Look into it if you plan to arrive the day before and can do without the contents of the bigger bags/ cases. We wandered over to the departure terminal at Gatwick and the staff there were very happy to accept the cases there and then.
On the day itself, we cleared security with the minimum fuss, given my wife has
two metal hips and sets the alarms off at every airport. This time she
additionally had her bag opened because her jewellery appeared on the scanner as
a mass of metal so it piqued some extra interest.
Boarding from gate A1 commenced almost an hour ahead of
departure and we were first in the queue as my wife was just walking past the
gate when the TUI staff made the announcement.
Onboard the TUI Boeing 737 we found
that because the flight duration is less than seven hours it is defined as a
"short-haul" therefore passengers have to pay for the food and drinks.
We happily shelled out for meals and drinks and savoured the holiday vibe. It
would be the last spend on such matters for fifteen days as this is an all-inclusive
fly/cruise holiday.
That vibe didn’t last long as my wife’s small bottle of red
wine somehow spilt over her tray and her trousers! Fortunately, the drinks
trolley was passing and the TUI stewardess reacted immediately with a
replacement bottle.
Phew! Our holiday was now back on track.
We landed in Naples at 7:00 pm but lost almost an hour
awaiting our cases. The coach journey to the ship took 20 minutes and we saw in
the evening night the outline of several volcanoes, all appearing dormant but located
menacingly above on the city.
The ship Marella Cruises Discovery 1 towered over a large modern building
where we were processed and exited with boarding cards and passing through
Italian police immigration checks before walking up the ramp and finding our
cabin.
Room 6073 is probably the smallest cabin we have ever
occupied but it still is acceptable.
The biggest point of note in the cabin is the lack of the UK and Irish 3-pin sockets. There aren’t any so bring at least one adaptor.
There are at least six EU and US sockets so no shortage of sockets. As it
turned out it was an excellent location, a few minutes from everywhere that
mattered.
Off to the ship’s bars, we went flashing the On-board cards
and up to the buffet where we had some food.
We returned to the cabin and
unpacked before bed. I had a fitful night’s sleep.
Not for any reason other
than my ticklish chest cough which woke me several times through the night with
coughing fits.
As the day progressed I realised that a considerable number of
passengers had the same flu-like symptoms so if you didn’t have it upon
boarding the ship you are almost certainly going to get it before you disembark
in two weeks time.
